Archinect - Features

'Everything in Design Is Extremely Collaborative': A Conversation with Emerging Architecture Practice Studio MUKA

2023-09-01T08:13:00-04:00

Starting your own practice comes with a mixture of excitement, collaboration, stressors, and endless problem-solving. As a new firm, architects Neda Kakhsaz and Zabie Mustafa are developing their approach to architectural design and how they would like to make their mark within the industry. After meeting as architecture students at Pratt Institute, they have embarked on showcasing their design sensibilities by creating strong narratives surrounded by a specific "theme or topic as it relates to the sensibilities of the project location" with their collaborators and clients.

For our latest Studio Snapshots installment, we chat with Neda and Zabie, co-founders of Studio MUKA, to discuss their journey of starting their own firm and what they hope to create as a budding design practice.

Investigating the Relationship Between Public Art and Public Space with LAA Office

2021-12-13T15:25:00-05:00

When public art is incorporated into a design space, how does it interact with its surrounding architecture and landscapes? For Lulu Loquidis and Daniel Luis Martinez, the importance of bridging the gap between public space, community-driven design, and the built environment is essential. The duo are co-principals of the multi-disciplinary design studio LAA Office based in Columbus, Indiana.

After living and working in New York City for several years, their move to the Midwest helped foster an eye-opening opportunity for creating positive design interventions. They explain: "Some of the biggest issues that need to be addressed relate to social, economic, and cultural inequities that privilege certain groups over others. Specifically, in our work, we're hoping to find ways of making art and design accessible to folks that can't normally afford it or who see themselves removed from the processes that shape the built environment around them."

To learn more about LAA Office's path to s...

Meet Aleph Zero, the Young Architects Behind This Year's Best New Building

2018-11-21T09:05:00-05:00

Children Village, a boarding school for disadvantaged children in rural Brazil, has been crowned as the world's best new building of the year. Designed by the firm Aleph Zero in collaboration with Rosenbaum, the groundbreaking project has won the Royal Institute of British Architects' prestigious International Prize, a biennial award recognizing a new building from around the world that exemplifies design excellence, architectural ambition and delivers meaningful social impact.